Motegi.- The Japanese Grand Prix was drawn as a new threat to Fabio Quartararo, who in the previous five races had lost 81 points compared to his main rival in the fight for the championship, Pecco Bagnaia, and with an Aleix Espargaró who started ahead on the grid ready to bite off part of the 17-point difference that separated them.
The Frenchman, who started ninth on the grid, was, however, the only one of the three who finished the race, eighth, adding some vital points that reinforce his position at the head of the contest.
Despite this, Quartararo finished the race at Motegi disappointed for not having been able to move up positions in the race and having to settle for finishing far behind the finish line.
“You have to think about the future, and that’s the next race because we won’t be back in Japan until next year, and then we’ll have a better bike. I haven’t enjoyed riding a bike in a race for a long time. If you don’t go out in the front row, bye-bye,” lamented the Frenchman.
Despite being upset, Fabio was satisfied that he had taken advantage of the situation.
“If we take into account the circumstances, it is better to add eight points than to lose them. But it is also frustrating,” he conceded.
“I couldn’t have fought Jack Miller, who was on another planet, but maybe Marc Marquez and Miguel Oliveira,” he described his goals.
“I couldn’t overtake at any time and partly because of something we changed before the race, which wasn’t the tyre. That was a mistake on our part, but I also think the rubber wasn’t the right one. We had very little dry track time,” said the Yamaha rider.
Fabio’s luck is that Bagnaia crashed just as he was trying to overtake him on the last lap of the race.
“I didn’t see him coming but I heard him fall so he couldn’t have fallen very far from me. I knew he was coming but I was stuck behind Maverick Viñales. Pecco was having a great race. I braked late but he braked even more.” , described the moment.
“I was behind Maverick the whole race and I couldn’t even try to overtake,” the boy from Nice angrily settled.
